Recently, no-till farming has become more popular. No-till farming requires that the soil remain untilled subsequent to harvesting of crops from the field. For example, a combine harvests corn from a field by cutting corn stalks a distance above the soil. No-till farming leaves the uncut portion of the corn stalks in the soil in order to achieve minimal soil disturbance. Some believe no-till farming has benefits and its adoption has grown steadily over the years. However, leaving remnant stalks in the soil after harvest have several deleterious effects.
One such deleterious effect is the damage the remaining un-cut stalks cause to tires of agricultural devices such as tractors, implements pulled behind tractors, etc. In some cases, remnant stalks accelerate the wear of tires. For example, tires may normally have a 5 or 6 year life when not exposed to remnant stalks. However, remnant stalks can decrease the life of a tire to 2 or 3 years. This decrease in life can be a substantial financial burden. Tires for agricultural devices can range from several hundreds of dollars to $5000 or even more, and many agricultural devices include numerous tires. As can be seen, tire costs are quite substantial and decreasing the life of a tire by 50% or more creates an added financial burden.
No-till farming can also decrease crop yield. Remnant crop stalks include the portion of the stalk above the soil and the root mass or root ball beneath the soil. When planting crops into the remnant crop stalks, the remnant stalks can create air pockets in a seed trench, cause shallow or inconsistent depth of seed placement, and/or poor seed-to-soil contact. All of these factors and others can delay plant emergence from the seed or may prohibit growth altogether, thereby greatly reducing crop yield.